Wächtersbach station is a station in the town of

Wächtersbach The town of Wächtersbach is part of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. In 1982, the town hosted the 22nd ''Hessentag'' state festival. Location Wächtersbach lies between the Spessart and the Vogelsberg Mountains in the middle Kinzig val ...

in the German state of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

on the Kinzig Valley Railway (german: Kinzigtalbahn). The former Bad Orb Light Railway (''Bad Orber Kleinbahn'') branches off at the station. It was originally standard gauge, but has been converted to

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

. The Vogelsberg Southern Railway (''Vogelsberger Südbahn'') also used to branch off here to Hartmannshain (in the municipality of

Grebenhain Grebenhain is a municipality in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The municipality of Grebenhain lies from 400 to 733 m above sea level in the southeastern Vogelsberg Mountains, about 30 km west of Fulda. Neighbourin ...

) via

Birstein Birstein is a municipality on the northeastern edge of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis in Hesse, Germany with approximately 6,600 inhabitants. It was the home of the former principality of Isenburg-Birstein. Geography Location The town lies at the southern ...

. The station is classified by

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

(DB) as a category 4 station.

History

The station was opened on 1 May 1867 along with the

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...

–Waechtersbach section of the

Frankfurt–Bebra railway The Frankfurt–Bebra railway runs from Bebra to Frankfurt am Main via Fulda, Gelnhausen, Hanau and Offenbach am Main in south central Germany. The southern section between Fulda and Frankfurt is known as the Kinzig Valley railway (german: Kinzigt ...

. The Wächtersbach–Birstein section of the Vogelsberg Southern Railway was opened on 30 June 1898 by the Wächtersbach-Birstein Light Railway Company (''Wächtersbach-Birsteiner Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft''). The Birstein-Hartmannshain section was opened on 23 December 1934. The Vogelsberg Southern Railway was closed on 27 May 1967. Today the Vogelsberg Southern Railway

cycle track A cycle track, separated bike lane or protected bike lane (sometimes historically referred to as a sidepath) is an exclusive bikeway that has elements of a separated path and on-road bike lane. A cycle track is located within or next to the ro ...

(Vogelsberger Südbahnradweg) is built on it. Dampfkleinbahn Bad Orb 02

The Wächtersbach–Bad Orb railway was originally a standard gauge line, which began in Wächtersbach and ran to Bad Orb. It was opened on 23 May 1901 and closed on 4 March 1995. On 26 May 2001, the first section in Bad Orb was reopened as a 600-mm gauge railway and the whole route to Wächtersbach has been operated since 29 October 2006 (locomotive Emma). The seasonal service operates on Sundays and public holidays from Easter to the end of October. Trains stop at the former station called ''Wächtersbach Kleinbahnhof'' next to Wächtersbach station and the operator uses the (unofficial) platform 21.

Infrastructure

The entrance building of Wächtersbach station is now listed as a monument under the Hessian Heritage Act. The station has a “home” platform (next to the station building) and an island platform. The home platform (platform 1) is served by

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at f ...

services from

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. Track 2 and track 3, which are on the central island platform, are used by services in the opposite direction. Regionalbahn services to Frankfurt start on track 3. The station was rebuilt to make it accessible for the disabled in 2015.

Operations

Fares in Wächtersbach are set and services are managed by the

Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) is a transport association that covers the public transport network of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area in Germany. Its head office is located in Hofheim im Taunus. Organisation and area covered The RMV ...

(Rhine-Main Transport Association, RMV). The station is served by Regional-Express and Regionalbahn services. In the summer months from May to October tourist trains (Emma) run three times a day.

Rail

Regional-Express trains from Fulda to Frankfurt (RE 50) stop at the station hourly every day. There is also a daily hourly service of Regionalbahn (stopping) trains (RB 51). During the weekday peak hours some Regionalbahn services start from or terminate at Bad Soden-Salmunster.

Buses

Wächtersbach bus station is served by bus routes 81 to 84, which connect to Bad Soden-Salmunster,

Flörsbachtal Flörsbachtal is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It has a population close to 2,400. Flösbachtal contains both the oldest parish and the youngest settlement established in the Spessart hills. Located within the muni ...

Jossgrund Jossgrund is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It has around 3,500 inhabitants distributed among several formerly independent villages, now ''Ortsteile''. The administration seat is at Oberndorf. Geography Location Th ...

and

Bad Orb Bad Orb (; "Thermae on the Orb River") is a spa town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis district of Hesse, Germany. It is situated east of Hanau between the forested hills of the Spessart. Bad Orb has a population of over 10,000. Its economy is dominate ...

. Bus lines 71 and 72 are connections between Wächtersbach-

Brachttal Brachttal is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Frankfurt Rhine-Main in Hesse, Germany. Districts The Bracht, a tributary of the Kinzig, flows through the ''Tal'' (valley) so the municipality got the name ''Brachttal.'' Brachttal ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wachtersbach Station Railway stations in Hesse Railway stations in Germany opened in 1867